Ben-DutkaOh, Mario. If only you could've known way back in the '80s that the word "billion" would be used to describe anything in the world of video games…
Today, Activision Blizzard has announced that the insanely popular and critically revered Call of Duty franchise has topped $3 billion in retail sales worldwide, "according to The NPD Group, Charttrack, GfK and internal Activision estimates." Since the original launched, total sales have reached 55 million units and as you all know, the recently released Modern Warfare 2 broke just about every major sales record in the first day or two (4.7 million units in 24 hours, $550 million in five days, etc.). Said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick:
"Call Of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history."
This is great and all, but has anyone considered the amount of pressure that now rests on Treyarch's shoulders for next year's Call of Duty iteration? We say they came through in fine fashion back in 2008 with what is arguably the best WWII shooter ever, but it's clear the new game won't have the same setting. Perhaps they saw just how crazy popular a new idea can be but either way, they have some gigantic shoes to fill… Anyway, it's obvious that Activision and Kotick have struck gold; lots and lots and lots of it. And you can bet they wanna find more.
Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
